Prep awards: Kelly Lang, lacrosse

Like her brother Roy, Mill Valley resident Kelly Lang was an offensive force for St. Ignatius of San Francisco in 2008 and showed herself to be one of the West Coast's best young lacrosse players.

The junior midfielder led the Wildcats with 82 points on 63 goals and 19 assists (better than three goals and an assist per game), guiding St. Ignatius to a 15-3 record and a No. 2 ranking in NorCal, according to laxpower.com.

Coach Amy Harms said Lang had a breakout season in 2008.

"Kelly was a leader all over the field," Harms said. "She demands the ball when she's playing. She's a scrappy player that has great finesse and great strength. She makes people around her better because she looks to share the ball rather than go straight to cage."

Lang was reluctant to be as complimentary of her own play, but did agree that her role on the team is to get everyone involved.

"I would say I'm a leader by example," Lang said. "My role on the team is kind of to connect everyone, to get the ball from our goal to the opposite side of the field and score."

The Southern Marin Lacrosse Club product was also chosen out of 225 candidates from California, Hawaii and Nevada to the 20-player Pacific Region team that competed against other regional all-star teams at a tournament in Baltimore over Memorial Day weekend. The team lost all five of its games against tough East Coast opponents, but Harms, who coached the team, said Lang scored and was one of the best players on the team.

Like her brother, Lang plans on playing lacrosse in college and should draw interest from a number of Division I programs. She plans to compete in several tournaments that will give her the exposure she needs to get noticed by coaches at the next level.

"I'm going to some tournaments to put myself out there with the coaches," Lang said. "My brother was recruited to Cornell so I got to see that whole process unfold. It all happened so quickly. You can play well in one game and get an offer and have to say yes or no right there."